The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy maintains this blog to disseminate information relevant to astronomers who identify as women. If you have an idea for a blog post or topic, please submit to wia-blog at lists.aas.org.
The views expressed on this site are not necessarily the views of the CSWA, the AAS, its Board of Trustees, or its membership.

The below post was written by a
contributor who wishes to use the pseudonym ExUngueLeam.

As a woman with Asperger’s, I have the
dubious of honor of regularly fielding a particular set of questions about
harassment and bullying in academia. These questions usually go something like:
"If a colleague or student of mine is on the autism spectrum, and they are
bullying or harassing someone, don't I need to accommodate for that? If I hold
them accountable for their bad behavior, isn't that... ableist?"

It’s been a rough year or so if you are a
woman. Or a person who loves science. (Or part of any underrepresented group
for that matter).

A quick online search easily locates where
science intersects with the #metoo movement. (See the #astroSH hashtag as one example,
including new allegations against a famous physicist/cosmologist just a couple
of weeks ago). And despite decades of effort, the number of women and
minorities in highest levels of academic science remain painfully low due to a
variety of factors.

“Our analysis of comments in both formal
student evaluations and informal online ratings indicates that students do
evaluate their professors differently based on whether they are women or men,”
the study says. “Students tend to comment on a woman’s appearance and
personality far more often than a man’s. Women are referred to as ‘teacher’ [as
opposed to professor] more often than men, which indicates that students
generally may have less professional respect for their female professors.”

An on-going concern is the lack of
childcare at professional conferences. While there are small grants that can
cover some of the expenses, “parents with young children are often excluded
from fully participating in academic conference activities.” A group of women
has made some recommendations.

“The countdown to National Geographic's
upcoming miniseries One Strange Rock has begun, with two weeks to go before the
series premiere. The brainchild of filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan),
producer Jane Root, and her production company, Nutopia, One Strange Rock will
feature interviews with real-life astronauts -- including Mae Jemison, Nicole
Stott, and Peggy Whitson, who opened up about women in STEM.”

“Women and men enter the life sciences
workforce with advanced degrees at roughly the same rate … but only 17 per cent
of senior academics in Australian universities and research institutes were
women, according to the Office of the Chief Scientist, and women were a
minority of National Health and Medical Research Council fellows.”